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January 2, 2003
MIAMI -- Incoming U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, a surgeon, helped tend to six victims of a rollover accident on a Florida highway New Year's Day, earning praise from paramedics for stabilizing some of the four survivors.
Frist, R-Tenn., a full-time heart and lung surgeon before joining the Senate eight years ago, is replacing Trent Lott, R-Miss., who stepped down as majority leader in December after praising a segregationist campaign.
An Isuzu Rodeo with six people aboard was heading west on Alligator Alley when it rolled over at 3:51 p.m., Broward Fire-Rescue Assistant Chief Todd Leduc said.
All six, including three children, were thrown out as the vehicle rolled. A 10-year-old girl died on the scene; another passenger died later at a hospital.
Frist, 50, was driving east on the highway, the Everglades portion of Interstate 75, heading to a family vacation home in Fort Lauderdale with his two sons when he came across the accident minutes after it happened.
He stopped and went to work checking the victims. When paramedics arrived, he pointed them to the ones in the most severe condition. Frist helped paramedics and several off-duty firefighters until the victims were transported to a hospital after about 30 minutes.
"Sen. Frist greatly assisted Broward County Fire Rescue. The Senate majority leader was really instrumental in helping us treat the victims," Leduc said.
The other four victims were transported to Broward General Hospital in Fort Lauderdale and Memorial Regional Hospital in Hollywood, Leduc said. A 12-year-old was in critical condition. Authorities didn't release their identities.
"As a doctor, his first instinct was to help these individuals," said Nick Smith, Frist's communications director in Washington. "His heart goes out to the family involved in this horrible tragedy."
The accident, about 35 miles northwest of Miami, jammed traffic on the busy highway well into the evening, creating a 12-mile backup at one time, the Florida Highway Patrol said.